E3 2020 Is Officially Cancelled

Lets face it, E3 has been dying for years.

Well, there goes my gaming highlight of the year...
Damn virus...

While that would suck if true... I'm something of a Nintendo purist and I imagine we'll still get the Direct event. Even if on a slightly different day.

But Sony has State of Play, and I imagine Microsoft would do something similar, as would other companies to present their big presentations in some form. Even if it's all digital, I bet we'll get something.

Sad, but it's run its course.

@Kevember That's H1N1 to you, pal.

@ThanosReXXX So how far behind am I on that avatar, it's new to me? Very appropriate for the new world order.

If E3 was going to be your gaming highlight this year I can't even begin to imagine what the lowlights were going to be. All they were going to do is have a bunch of streamers sitting around talking about who has the best social media presence.

It's really no great loss at this point, it will all be on Youtube. The history books will show Nintneod started the ball rolling w/ Directs and that's all that will be left.

@Kevember
We have vaccines for the flu. We dont have a vaccine cure for Corona

I would like to point out that they may just reschedule E3 rather than cancel it. It would not be the first time a major event gets rescheduled.

Sucks...but hey, us Nintendo folk have several mini E3's every year so not much will change for ninty. The other companies are pretty screwed

Corona is messing up the business echosystem as we know it, airlines going bankrupt, tourist shops everywhere not surviving and impacting whole societies, sports events and now gaming events cancelled, and probably just the beginning. And this with a not very lethal virus, imagine the impact of a resident evil type virus. In this case, the virus is not the biggest problem but the side effects are. Didn't think about all these side effects until this outbreak.

On a sidenote: I wonder if the beer brand Corona is benefiting or not from the association.

And regarding emotional impact of E3 being cancelled for me (and probably some more): it's like removing birthdays or Christmas and saying you'll get a gift "sometime" instead. Maybe an exaggeration but trying to get the sense of the feeling across.

Interesting that they would cancel an event scheduled for mid-June in mid-March, a lot could change about COVID-19 in 3 months, but this is the safer thing to do. It also gives developers plenty of time to decide how they want to announce their stuff.

I don't see what they can do at E3 that they can't do digitally. They can give us the same information through a big Direct, as very few people go to E3 relative to the potential audience for a video presentation. Why would I want to watch a Treehouse livestream of Breath of the Wild 2 if I can download and play a free demo?

@rjejr E3 is always my gaming highlight of the year. It's impact and/or weight may have diminished over the years, but both in name and in reputation it's still THE place to be for game announcements. None of the other gaming events compare, or are distinctly region-bound, such as GamesCom being distinctly European and the Tokyo Gameshow has always been decidedly more Asian.

I've never felt like announcements made on either of those two events had the same impact as an E3 announcement.

And on a personal note, I always enjoy the anticipation of going into a long night not knowing what's going to be revealed. I always watch EVERYTHING, so due to the time zone difference, that might sometimes mean watching it at around 3am locally, or later, and all of that creates a kind of a buzz that I personally prefer over stupid, pre-recorded trailers.

I do like the Directs, and they have their place, but at E3, I'm usually way more interested in things like the live Treehouse sessions and the developer interviews and gameplay sessions that the other parties organize. Sure, you can do all of that without a live audience as well, but it's just not the same.

So, far as I'm concerned, E3 definitely still has its place in the industry. I also don't understand all the "well, E3 is already a has-been anyway" comments, because that has nothing to do with it being canceled. It sounds like people were already expecting it to be canceled even without the threat of a virus, which was of course never the case.

@molkom Ah... someone who actually understands. How refreshing. You got a like from me.

It's okay if I can get my major nintendo direct I'll live.

I wonder if Nintendo will still do its big E3 Direct thing, maybe rename it to something else. Honestly that's the only thing I care about at this point anyways, lol

@AnnoyingFrenzy For major, international events with so much business and money on the line, I'd imagine even 3 months of uncertainty is too short notice.

I think E3 is one of those events that announces the next year's dates only a couple weeks after the current one ends. Just to give some idea of how far ahead they plan.

If they do cancel it there is one person who shares way more blame than anyone else Donald Trump. He could’ve treated this pandemic with the seriousness it deserved and it wouldn’t have gotten this terrible.

I understand staying safe from the virus - but why are people upset about a greater focus on fans, media and influencers?

In case people have forgotten, the whole industry rides on the backs of gamers. If we weren't buying, watching and talking about the games, the whole industry wouldn't exist. And influencers, streamers/YouTubers etc... are a HUGE part of that now.

I'd love to see some polls to see how many gamers also watch gaming videos and/or streams. My guess is more than half of us do. Maybe more than 75%.

@GrandScribe Lol, what nonsense is that. Facts please, he or his administration is in any way shape or form responsible for people having flown out of Wuhan to places all over the world. I live in BC and the 2nd of april that cursed ship is moring here a mere 500m away from my home, His fault to? Anything ells you want to blame him for?

Go cry on twitter, please.

This is scheduled for June, isn't it?

I suspect and hope that this virus will be yesterday's news by that point, so I suspect something more is afoot here than just "protecting" people from a virus that God willing won't even be an immediate concern in three month's time.

I rather suspect if this comes to pass, that E3 itself is dead. It may have sadly been viewed a necessity to cancel or delay in several week's time, but it's hardly a decision that needed to be made in early March. Money is already spent, commitments already made, and hotel's and flight's are already booked. They could've been cancelled in 6 week's time as easily as now.

But what it is, is a good out for an event that perhaps was underselling floor space to vendors and so on, that allows them to financially get out from under their commitments and look good while doing so and avoid industry criticism, just in case the concept can be reawakened in the future and be made more viable.

An outright cancellation without what on the surface appears to be a very good reason that can't be argued with, would be a death knell to the Entertainment Software Association ever attracting major publishers that can't count on them to follow through. But with this virus, it allows them to cancel, regroup, and evaluate options for 2021 to perhaps make the model work.

Or more likely, it's just gone for good. E3 has been on the verge of collapse for years now.

@ThanosReXXX I get it, it's a big event. But I really do think this year was gonna suck.

Sony will eventually do a live thing for PS5, that's my live show this year. And Nintendo will do a Direct at some point, I'm pretty sure.

More curious to see what happens after this year if E3 can come back of not. Next year there should be some bigger game news once PS5 and XSX hit their stride. Maybe a New Switch Pro.

Yep, even the PS5 and Series X launches will probably be delayed.
(And don't forget E3 was already on shaky ground after mass DOXXING people last year)

To be honest, if CORONA-CHAN has her way, we would be LUCKY if we get ANY new console game releases later this year.
Remember, even if development isn't affected, they still have to manufacture and ship these games. (unless they're digital-only)

Video games aside, a lot of people seem to be sticking their heads in the sand over this.
The reality is, we could very well be under martial law situations in many areas of the nation in the coming months with serious food and supply shortages as the warehouses empty and the shipments halt.

@Cevil Well, we aren't all going to be ok, some people are totally going to die, it's just probably not a statistically significant percentage of people who will die. Everyone else will be mostly ok, yea.

don’t mind wouldn’t watch it to begin with cause will be busy with New Horizons the Switch’s best game ever made

Just do a digital E3. Publishers can have pre-recorded presentations like Nintendo does, and they can have the game floor demos be limited time downloads. Everyone wins.

@FrowningCoach
If anyone is to blame, it's W.H.O. for downplaying the severity at the beginning and running cover for China.

Even if Trump completely locked down the borders last month, these same people would be whining and crying "WAAHHCIST". Lol
This isn't a partisan-politics issue and it's disgusting how some are using it for political ammunition.
"Never let a good crisis go to waste".

Honestly don't even care. Not like I was ever going to go. This surely means any company can still give us some reveals/streams around the same time as E3 would have been, right? Nintendo was ahead of the curve on this stuff. The overblown press conferences are such a waste anyway.

And anyway, health and safety concerns trump all that junk anyway.

At this point I just hope that the forced quarantines start AFTER I get my new horizons console and game. I’d rather the virus just go away of course, but it’s beginning to look a little...apocalyptic? Nobody seems to be doing anything about it. Sure, scientists are studying drugs and vaccines but they like to take forever because we’re all just numbers to them, not human beings.

@FrowningCoach I clearly made a comment harshly lambasting Donald Trump's pathetic response to this pandemic, but I never came close to saying its all his fault you came up with that all on your own. It says a lot about you that you not only lied about what I said to defend Trump, but that you also treated me like garbage by saying, "lol, what nonsense is that," and "go cry on twitter, please."

Good, E3 hasn't been good since 2011

lol

EVERYTHING will be cancelled this year.

Welcome to the new normal.

Understandable. Hoping they all give us some live streams or directs.

Sony was pulling out for years, even without COVID E3 has been failing.

E3 literally died in 2006, and then they slowly started bringing it back again over the years.

Once Sony gets through its landslide of titles in the first half of the year (Seriously, they have at least one major release each month leading up to July) I am predicting 2020 to quickly drop off a cliff. Nintendo won't have anything and will delay major titles, Sony and Microsoft will delay next gen consoles into 2021 and even third party studios will delay their major fall releases (looking at you cyberpunk). E3 and all of these other conventions are just a sign that corona is wreaking havoc on the video game development pipeline.

Im gonna really really miss the cringy presentations from other companies...we will never have a banjo man again......

At an age where developers and publishers could literally make their own digital news conference, there's really no need for E3 anymore.

This was supposed to be E3's 25th anniversary and now we can't even have that. Can't believe we have to start 2020 with a virus (which I still think it's complete bullsh*t that a cure would take 12-18 months to exist. If you can estimate the "supposed" date, then you basically have more knowledge of a potential cure)

@ThanosReXXX Yeah I agree with you. It was fun following the event and Nintendo, Microsoft, and that PC games event can shed some light on stuff you’ve never heard of before. Microsoft will likely do the big stage show thing another time anyway, but I’ll miss the Nintendo Treehouse if they end up not having something like to replace it this year.

People complain about how boring the Ubisoft and Bethesda shows are, but how are they going to make memes without Todd Howard and that “Wooo, Yeah” guy? They are going to need to try harder this summer.

So sick of the terrorists in the media creating and perpetuating such a ridiculous panic. The likelihood of dying from the common flu is a thousand-fold greater than that of contracting and then dying from Coronovirus (which relatively speaking, btw, is not even a particularly deadly disease to begin with). And that is a very conservative estimate.

Like, I literally can't believe how stupidly freaked out the masses are atm. Cancelling E3 over it is just another in an ever growing list of things being ruin3e because of this (economically devastating) media-fueled fear campaign. Sad.

@JayJ I've always looked forward to the E3 event for years, it's a fun time to see what the near future holds for gaming in one event. Whats wrong with that?

Nintendo usually does videos, anyway - they're well prepared for this scenario.

I don’t know what the coronavirus situation will be like in June, but with so many cases in California and Japan, I’m not sure I would go to E3 even if it doesn’t get cancelled.

@andywitmyer I say this with all seriousness. But I would love to know where you get your information from. I'm hesitant to believe colleges and universities would move their entire spring semesters online or NBA would seriously consider playing games with no attendees if this weren't serious

Sucks for anyone who still looked forward to the spectacle that is E3.

I'm with posters like @rjejr in that I'm content with Direct style reveals or companies doing their own things. Most of the stuff (outside of actually attending E3) can be accomplished digitally and probably with better focus now that they don't have to think about all the superfluous stuff. But I understand some looked forward to E3 as it is (or was)

The whole influencer thing seriously turned me off, so I wouldn't be sad in the slightest if it was axed as long as Ninty still does their E3 Direct.

@Cevil To be fair, no, everyone is not going to be okay.

@Kevember it has more to do with partners pulling out after the hearing finer details about the direction the ESA is taking. They are reporting covid19 stuff for insurance purposes of course.

@andywitmyer If you're honestly blaming "the media" over this, you clearly haven't been paying attention to how far it's spread over these past two months. That same media has driven home the point that folks shouldn't panic and how to stay safe.

As for the "economic devastation"... Near the end of January, electronic companies - including Nintendo- have stated that this virus was gonna delay production of many products. This was well before the virus extended far beyond China. The economy taking a dive shouldn't be a surprise, as it's been a month in the making, at the very least.

Additionally, the WHO has claimed that the annual Flu has a mortality rate of about 1%, whereas the Coronavirus is currently hitting about 3+%. It might mellow out in due time, BUT the lack of a vaccine leaves an air of uncertainty.

tl;dr - Yeah, no need to panic, but don't let arbitrary disdain make you ignorant to reality.

Coranavirus is just a smokescreen for more insidious enterprises taking place... pure propaganda...

@HXLXIII There are currently 1k people infected in the US. A lot, but it's not even remotely close to .01%.

They'll put their news online, right? RIGHT?!

@Maschinenmensch Sure boomer

@Entrr_username not a boomer, kiddo. Grow up.

@andywitmyer Total garbage. I'm living in Switzerland and the situation just outside our border in Italy, Lombardia, is horrible. Did you look at the death numbers there? it's way higher than the common flu. Hospitals are completley overloaded, the staff gets sick as well and can't do their work, urgent materials are running out, ... go and tell them it's just the media....

@andywitmyer @Impaler-d @Maschinenmensch So painful to read so much misinformation on the corona virus everywhere. Yes, it’s slightly more deadly than the flu, (numbers vary, some are saying it’s way more deadly), not much difference there. But there are two reasons this virus is being treated with such rigorous actions by the WHO and all governments:
1 it’s VERY contagious. Way more than the flu ever is. And no health care system anywhere in the world can handle 5-10% of the population being sick all at once.
2 the virus is part of a population virusses that is known to mutate relatively fast. The more virusses you have out there, the bigger the chance one will actually mutate, starting the cycle anew.
Add on top of that the fact that we don’t have a vaccine yet, and you have your answer. All of this comes from my girlfriend actually working in the field of expertise.

But continue to stick your head in the sand and continue to be angry that you’re not always getting what you want.

@MasterGraveheart A State of Play is pretty much guaranteed, seeing as Sony did one at the same time as E3 last year despite it allegedly being unassociated with the event.

It's no surprise, really. E3 had been stagnating for roughly a decade with a gross overdependence on annual "AAA" cash cows and shallow eye candy (increasingly videos that showed zero gameplay) posing as game announcements.

Where did the demise officially begin? I personally think it was around 2010 if memory serves, when a Japanese developer remarked "You Americans must really enjoy war" with regard to the ridiculous overrepresentation of FPSes that year (a problem that never really went away, nor did an overrepresentation of extreme violence in general). Japanese, European, and smaller publishers began to disappear from the show soon afterward, unable to justify the cost of attending when their projects were kept "below the fold" out on the show floor while the vast majority of media attention went to the presentations and the same "AAA" franchises/mega-publishers every single year.

As the same old, same old presentations (like the five or six Ubisoft games each year that could have their titles switched and no one be the wiser) dominated the media coverage, the hype began to evaporate; gamers knew full well they could count on the next Call of Battlefield: Madden's Creed that Christmas and that it'd go Platinum, so much of the "news" was no longer really news anymore. Instead we'd get twenty or so articles dedicated to a single "AAA" game (or comparing one against another) on a single website (cough, IGN, cough) while many deserving games by smaller developers got little or nothing. I know that it had long since reached a point where I'd open another window and surf other sites during large swaths of various presentations, speaking for myself.

The success of Nintendo's first E3 Direct (and physical absence from the show) in 2013 was an undeniable sign that the industry was beginning to move on. Sony's following suit was pretty much the final nail in the coffin, with two of the three console makers no longer being represented. Maybe it was always going to happen with the advent of so many digital options for presentations and new game announcements. Maybe some of the other industry shows like PAX or Gamescom had begun to cannibalize some of E3's press and major announcements. But if this is indeed the end, E3 largely did it to itself by putting too many eggs in one basket (the mega-publishers) and stagnating with the same annual sequels and installments dominating its "hype train" every year.

For what it's worth, I'll miss E3, at least the E3 I remember from "back in the day" when print magazines were the primary source of coverage (I even remember when it was called CES). I still remember wearing out those enormous midsummer issues of EGM, GamePro, and Die Hard Game Fan, scrutinizing every screen shot (and back then, while certain games obviously were bigger announcements and received more coverage, EVERY game got at least a mention and/or a screen shot or two). I'll also miss moments like seeing Halo 2 for the very first time or Shigeru Miyamoto walking onto the stage swinging that Master Sword during the surprise announcement of Zelda: Twilight Princess for GameCube. The hobby and the industry somehow seemed more innocent back then; they belonged to GAMERS and hadn't yet been transformed into the mass-consumption, multiple revenue stream entities they've become since back before online became prevalent and videogames went "mainstream". In that sense, E3's demise may well be a warning for the entire industry.

We dont need E3. Every company can just make their own direct and air it on the same day.

@AtlanteanMan You do know that E3 isn't going away, right?

It's probably being cancelled in 2020, and resuming its normal course for 2021.

@Friendly
Nothing that you just said refuted any of my points. Lmao

Most of us watch it via you tube anyway. So a Direct E3 will be ok'ish, Nintendo have done this before.

E3 is still the biggest marketing best in the games industry calendar by a massive margin

Right decision imo, lives are likely to be saved and I’m sure we’ll still get something digital

Good, I don’t think I could stand another year of watching YouTube kids screaming at the screen!

@Joeynator3000 why wouldn't they directs are prerecorded

@Darkyoshi98 E3 is the reason all these gaming announcements aren't scattered. With E3 gone and everyone doing announcements whenever instead of specifically during 1 week, it's then more acceptable for Nintendo to be silent for longer (e.g. 2nd general Direct of the year being in September instead of the 3rd being in September).

Oh no, I was looking forward to seeing a car on stage and hearing the audience get excited over literally anything a human could possibly be paid to get excited for.

I could tell this virus outbreak was serious when they’d sold out of pasta at Tesco.

I’m expecting the Tyrant to appear at my door any day now.

Good job I have some serum in the house. It’s hair serum, but serum’s serum, right?

Good riddance, as far as I'm concerned. Less having to fight with my normie coworkers to get a week off in June just to watch a video game thing. Plus I'm a monster who is sustained by disorder and destruction.

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

It’s not a surprise as even before the virus outbreak, E3 was dying on its ar3e. Nintendo will do their directs - well if they are doing any in 2020 and neither Microsoft nor Sony need E3 when the hype around their new consoles will do the job for them just fine.
To be honest, I doubt E3 will come back now.

This will officially kill E3 for good, I think. We all know E3 wasn’t in great shape to begin with, but companies will now just announce things themselves.

@GrandScribe
"there is one person who shares way more blame than anyone else Donald Trump."
"but I never came close to saying its all his fault you came up with that all on your own."

"Shares way more blame than anyone else"
"never came close to saying its all his fault"

Your two statements seem to contradict each other.

On topic:
I think that the corona-virus gets blown out of proportions in a lot of countries. In my country the only people that seem to have become victim to it are 80+. Which is obviously a sad thing that happened, but I have doubts that corono would be the only cause of death at that age. At the same time my country's representatives say that we shouldn't even shake hands anymore.
Also with the absense of some major parties like Sony there could also be more reasons that E3 doesn't take place this year.

@NotTelevision Nintendo could still do an online treehouse presentation from Redmond.

@GravyThief I love your avatar

Also, is your name a reference to Tim and Eric?

@UmbreonsPapa Rapidly spreading virus + large congregation of people in an enclosed space × many, many people with poor hygiene manners (sneezing without covering mouth, not washing hands, etc, etc, etc) = Recipe for disaster. Not just E3 but pretty much anywhere public is a potential hazard. People are disgusting, this will only get much worse before some kind of vaccine is created. It seems to hit elderly and immuno-compromised people the worst at this time.

@Friendly The rapid mutation is exactly what’s making it so hard to find a vaccine (if you need any proof of evolution, it’s viruses). And then once it’s found, it has to go through rigorous trials to make sure it doesn’t kill us.

(This is more a reply to others complaining about the vaccine taking so long, not you; I just used your comment as a segue way)

Honestly, I really do think viruses will wipe us off the face of the planet someday.. I just hope that’s a long ways away. Overpopulation is going to increasingly make this matter that much worse, and we really are screwing up our planet fast.

@Antraxx777 thanks! I’ve never heard of Tim and Eric, so no, but I’ll certainly check them out.

My name isn’t anything quite so sophisticated I’m afraid. Here in the UK, there’s a stereotype that people from the North of England like gravy (no idea why!). I’m from the North, but lived in the South for a few years and used to get teased (playfully) about being Northern. At some point I was referred to as a thief of gravy products, which I found amusing and so I took the name for myself!

Not surprising, conventions everywhere are being cancelled. No reason for this to be an exception. But it's also horribly disappointing. I look forward to E3 all year. Christmas, Easter, E3, the 3 big holidays. I build a whole month long event out of it. Without it, something will be horribly missing.

I'll also not really have a lot of connection to gaming this year. I'll see what arrives when it arrives on shelves/storefronts but won't really know much about gaming otherwise. In away, short of Nintendo, no E3 might mark a slow exit from gaming in general for me. Not by intent but by happenstance. Out of sight, out of mind.

I also wonder what's going on with PS5/XSEX. No E3. Not much word, information, or hype. Production is likely in China and is likely ground to a hault. I'm not sure it's possible to even have launch volume ready even if they wanted to. I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation were postponed another half a year to a year. This would be a disaster launch at this point.

I also wonder what's going to happen to Tokyo 2020. Inviting the whole world to Asia of all places for the biggest convention of all while the world is cancelling conventions sounds like an impossible plan just a few months from now. Can't help but think the Olympics will be cancelled for the first time ever. Even WWII didn't stop it from going on, though it stopped many countries from participating.

@molkom Yep. You get it. I think with this, the "new world order" is finally dealt its first serious blow. Everything thought (stupidly) everything was perfectly ok, disaster was behind us, and the interconnected, centralized world economy was infallible. This is the first time people are seeing first hand that within a week's time, one weak link disrupts everything top to bottom and a lot of it never goes back together. The fact that business conferences as a concept are effectively vanishing, globally, at once was unthinkable a month ago.

With this particular disease the fact that it's actually not very deadly is actually a big part of of the problem and its disruption of everything. It transmits easily, lies dormant with long incubation, develops in carriers easily (making the vectors almost untraceable, leading to large scale quarantines and pseudo-quarantines the only viable option. ANYONE could be a source, symptoms or no!) It's close to a theatrical zombie apocalypse. Ebola never spread in this way precisely because it is so deadly. It kills almost everyone it touches rapidly with horrible symptoms that announce its presence. Similarly long incubation so that was a similar struggle, but generally most of the people that get it die off, and most with it visibly have it, and don't spread it as easily. This thing looks and acts like the common cold, spreads as easily, and incubates longer with more carriers. The virus itself is a lot less horrific, where Ebola pretty much eats the body from the inside out rapidly. But it's potential to spread to absolutely everyone within a space of weeks is a lot more present. I'm honestly not sure if the likely outcome is that it will be contained after some spread, or if the likely outcome is that everyone everywhere will get it at some point, and it will be come a routine like the flu that it's a "normal" disease everyone gets annually.

What is clear is that our "betters" can't contain plagues nearly as well as they want us to believe most of the time, and really can't contain it at all. The thing started in rural China months ago. The fact that it's shutting down global industry and likely forever altering "normal" business and interaction probably tells us luck more than skill is what kept such things happening so far.

What's really sad is this is probably the final death knell for retail that was on rocks to begin with. Then real life is in deep trouble in a lot of ways. Even if this thing vanishes entirely by June, I suspect the ramifications of it's existence will affect everything for the next half century at least.

Sometimes I wonder if that's part of the plan.

@Antraxx777 Yep. I've been saying that for a long time. It's inevitable. It's past inevitable. That's how human population density has always been kept in check by nature. Always will be. We've been trying to sustain endless population as though the only limits are how tight we can pack everyone in and synthesize nutrient supplies. We'd have done better with some human induced means of reduction to curb population before nature has to take over. Maybe WWIII is behind it's needed time.

@Ralizah @ThanosReXXX Funny. For years I was the crazy hermit. I never went anywhere, refused to travel anywhere ever, avoided crowds of any sort, and thought life was pretty much just go to work, go home. Simple life like life used to be 50 years ago. I hate the very notion of all this travel and have always felt it destroyed the world.

Now my way of life is the internationally recognized recommended way of life, the travel is recognized as destroying the world, and you all are the crazies.

Bit late yall figured it out though....

@NEStalgia I don't know who you think you're talking to, but I've been reclusive my entire life and avoid other people like the plague (lol) by instinct.

I'm in my element when it comes to social distancing. Unfortunately, some of my immediate family is going to struggle a bit more with all this. Especially my poor brother-in-law, who travels frequently and tries to fill every possible evening with activity and socializing.

@MajorTom I was obviously speaking of the virus in the United States and E3, the fact you said what you did in response say a lot about you.

@Ralizah I'd give you an internet high five but that's not a recommended sanitary procedure. Internet elbow bump FTW!

My struggle right now is working with people laughing it off and maintaining their globe trotting travel plans. I'm going to avoid breathing for about a month.

At least if it doesn't actually infect everyone, the world may be reshaped in my image and I don't even have to put down my controller.

EDIT: Also, there's probably a new congressional medal you'll receive in the mail for your exclusiveness. "Well done, model citizen!" How quickly times change....

@Yorumi I don't think people love to panic so much as all these things are portrayed as something to validly panic about, usually to achieve ulterior motives by keeping the public distracted and submissive. Especially during election cycles.....

This time it seems a bit different though. This thing actually does spread incredibly fast. But they're the boy who cried wolf. They hyped every fringe disease for a decade plus as the next big killer and now that they have something that looks like it's actually going pandemic, the regular populace is hoarding toilet paper (why toilet paper? For Ebola that made sense....not for this...) and those of us that pay attention are cynical, jaded, and initially, at least, laughed off this one that actually looks to be more worrisome if only because of how it spreads. Eventually it will be the "big" one. Guaranteed, 100%. This one may not be it in terms of how deadly or disfiguring it is, but this is the first time we've had one that really was a public concern rather than localized concerns inflated to hysteric levels. That does make it very different, if only from the effect it has on the perception of such things. Unlike things like Ebola that only hit a handful of people, mostly those that had direct physical contact with infected individuals, and most of the main vectors spent time in the prime countries affected, this actually is spreading in the open. It's pretty different in that regard.

Ok, a party in a cat5 isn't very smart. Media likes hyping things, and people do do the "I survived the hurricane" thing. But they're lucky, that was a bad plan. It's not that every square inch in a hurricane is guaranteed to answer "will it blend" in the affirmative, but it's that every spot has a high potential...the wrong wind or debris going where your head is isn't good.

As a snow hater, in the north, every snow is the end to me. You're right, and I agree with your point. But personally I'd be a lot happier if wen went into a week long emergency mode with rations every time we get an inch of snow.

Yeah, I realize flu kills more overall, and both diseases have in common that they more or less don't actually kill directly, it's the symptoms that can strain weakened bodies for the most part. "Deadly disease" isn't really accurate - the disease doesn't attack major organs at all, the actual virus is incapable of killing outright unlike actual deadly diseases (pox, dengue, black death, bubonic, ebola, etc.) It's being misrepresented in that regard in a very strange way. However, I think the crisis mentality here is a realization that it spreads much more rapidly and broadly than most diseases, and a bit of future prediction - if it spreads that rapidly and regenerates that rapidly, it also means it evolves that rapidly. If it's what it is now and not a truly deadly plague today but gets into the open fully, what will it evolve into in a year or two? I'm thinking that's the serious concern here. Its adaptability long-term if allowed to spread. It's current form isn't that terrible. But the form today won't be the form in October let alone 2022.

The disease itself may not be the next smallpox. But the rate at which it spreads to everyone and mutates, and probably a dose of "this thing is actually worse in a few areas we haven't told the public yet" warrants the pandemic approach. But they've cried wolf so many times it's amazing anyone pays attention at all.

But the media reaction truly is insane. And cynically, as I noted....for the US, not unexpected in an election cycle. Name one election cycle without a crisis to capitalize on? Though this one has some weight behind it in terms of countries like Italy moving to actual border closure, more to contain everyone in than to keep anyone out.

Poor Italy. The gateway for every Asian disease since the Black Death...

@GrandScribe "the fact you said what you did in response say a lot about you."
The only thing that I did was point out your obvious contradiction. What did I even do for that matter other than saying. "Your two statements seem to contradict each other."? Which is a fact. What does it say about me? It seems to say more about you for that matter, let that sink in.

@rjejr It's not just it being a big event. If I see some of these commenters on here, I don't think that I'll ever be able to make them understand WHY it's so important, because they already fail to grasp that.

I've done events myself, for HP, Compaq and for other brands, and the atmosphere is SO different from doing normal sales meetings, presentations and telesales. It's almost indescribable. Potential partners, importers and buyers are in a completely different state of mind, it's almost like there's some tangible vibe hanging around these kinds of events, that makes people more susceptible to deals and propositions.

And the same goes for E3. Sure, all companies could do Directs, or online presentations, because that part would be the exact same for all of us, seeing as we'd be sitting behind our computer monitors anyway, so it's not like a whole lot would change for us, but for the business it would. They NEED these "being there in the flesh" meetings, presentations, behind closed door sessions and so on, to further their business, to enthuse media and shareholders, and to create buzz.

And Nintendo was going to rock it, because they would have either had a Metroid Prime 4 teaser and maybe even a Treehouse session, or a Pikmin 4 session. Either way, they would have won E3...

@NotTelevision Exactly.

@NEStalgia Oh, wonderful. So we're now all boarding the NEStalgia Hermit Express... _Yay....

@Yorumi While there is no reason to panic, and people definitely shouldn't act upon such a sentiment, it actually is VERY short-sighted if you think that this is just some kind of blown out of proportion media hoax. The virus is spreading like wildfire, and compared to the regular flu, this virus has already both infected AND killed more people worldwide, than the flu has, comparatively speaking, in the short time that it has been around.

Please look at the world at large, and not just at how few people have been infected in the States. Over here, the rate of infection has quadrupled in just as many weeks (now totaling 382 infected and 6 people diseased), China (80.754 infected, 3136 diseased) and Italy (10.149 infected, 631 diseased) have all but come to a full stop socially and economically, and other countries are also adding newly infected on a daily basis (worldwide infection numbers are now already WAY past 120.000), so it really isn't anything to scoff at or shrug off as if it's just a common cold or anything.

But having said that: people just need to prevent themselves from panicking, and use common sense and stick to a good personal hygiene, and then we'll ultimately be alright. It's mainly the very young, the elderly and the sick and/or weaker part of the population that is at risk.

EDIT:

Here's an up to date worldwide map, showing you the total number of infected people, and numbers per country:
https://localfocus2.appspot.com/5e610a49eec24

That is okay. Better for them just to put out trailers then risk big infections at a big event.

@andywitmyer

Wow. Way to make light of all the people who have died from this.

Maybe you should try pulling your head out of your rear and grow up? Because believe it or not, trying to prevent a disease from spreading, regardless of its mortality rate, is more important then missing something as trivial as E3, or a concert, or a carnival, or any other large scale event strictly for entertainment purposes.

I'm not saying its the end of the world. Its not, there have been far worse diseases the world has seen throughout history. I'm saying that there is nothing wrong with taking some precautions.

But I guess someone as selfish and childish as you, doesn't see it that way and feels that they can mock and delude from the safety of their computer.

@Impaler-D true added you cause you were in on the discussion

@NEStalgia Unfortunately, a lot of people will just blow stuff off until their lives are directly, viscerally impacted. Pandemics are things that happen to "other people." And others will live in denial until, like is currently happening in NYC, the military sets up a quarantine zone around their neighborhood.

The potential for human stupidity and selfishness to make a bad situation worse is pretty much boundless.

Thankfully, my immediate family is taking this fairly seriously, so I don't have to worry about people in my household traveling and catching it. Otherwise, we're taking common sense precautions.

@Yorumi Well, much like with any viral disease, if you're not susceptible, then you may be or become a carrier, and you may even get sick, but if your body is able to fight off the symptoms, then you'll get through it, much like with a regular flu.

That still doesn't diminish anything of what I said. There are risk groups worldwide, like I mentioned before: the young, the elderly and the sickly or people with a less than average constitution.

And this particular flu virus IS spreading faster than any normal or other flu before it. Those are facts. The numbers I gave you are just from three countries. If you add all the other countries and infected, the numbers outweigh the common flu by far.

Worldwide media and scientists have said and shown this multiple times, and now I'm supposed to believe an anonymous poster on a gaming website, just because you're saying it isn't? No offense, but I'm going with the multiple sources option...

While I'm disappointed - E3 is an enjoyable hallmark of my year - the current unprecedented situation with COVID-19 does warrant caution. I don't think the world's situation with the disease should induce panic (and some of the supply shortages in areas not majorly impacted), but trying to prevent the spread of the virus to those who are more at risk is a wise move.

Here's to hoping that Nintendo at least still runs a sort of digital event.

It’s good that they cancelled it. People’s health is first. The event will come back stronger next year

Very sad, but hopefully there will still be a Direct and Treehouse Live from the Nintendo offices

Well if that is for the E3 this year. I wonder what that says for EVO this year?

FINALLY! About time

@ThanosReXXX I think E3 has changed so much over the years that this last change was the end regardless. Nintendo stopped doing live presentations years ago, just Treehouse. Sony was out for year 2, so no going back after that.

4 years ago in 2016 the ship hit the iceberg, sinking was inevitable.

https://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/activision-ea-and-disney-gave-up-on-e3-but-that-doesn-t-mean-you-should-too-1316590

There will always be shows and conferences and conventions. There are so many "Comic-cons" but most people only know New York and San Diego.

With E3 out of the way something else will come along to replace it. Not this year but maybe next. The only constant is change.

@Yorumi
Go ahead to the games event and then you will be founded got infected by the virus that still incurable so far.
Peoples are over panic with diseases ?? 🙄

Man,i hate it!Terrible news,good article tho

Hardly the end of an era... Its a safety call.

Clickbait.

@Yorumi I'm not disagreeing with that part of what you've been saying, but all I am saying is that while people don't need to start panicking, they also don't need to be callous or dismissive. This IS a fast spreading virus, and even if it doesn't kill you or make you sick, you could still be part of the problem by being a carrier, so caution, common sense and good hygiene are still highly advisable, no matter what.

On a side note: I don't remember any other worldwide panic about any disease before this one, except for AIDS. I mean, we had SARS, the swine flu, foot and mouth disease and all that, but besides AIDS, none of them were ever as dangerous or widespread, nor have they ever completely deadlocked any countries. Have you SEEN the footage from China and Italy? Quite a few places out there look like complete ghost towns...

Well Then some reason Nintendo was going to show the next dlc fighter call 2b?? I don't know who that is..

Dang, I planned my summer around E3 and now I have to change it. I hope Nintendo still will have a Treehouse Event and will announce the dates ahead of time so I can re-schedule things around it. E3 2021 better be good.

@rjejr No, I don't think so. Not of the reputation and scope of E3, which is simply synonymous with "yearly game event". If you ask people to name one or two, E3 will nearly always be mentioned first, because of its reputation. And it WILL return next year, mark my words.

well hat is a one week gaming holiday for me cancelled because from what basiclly is the flu

Introducing the new hit game, Cancelled e3 - Panic Button are handling the port to Switch.

I would like to say I want this virus to go away forever x please take care everyone x

As long as we still get a Direct that's all I care about.

... End of an era? C'mon now. I don't think it's that bad. There will most likely be an E3 2021.

I don't think they should've cancelled it when it's still some few months away, but ah well. Rather disappointing, honestly. E3 is that one event where we gamers come together for one thing: to be excited for new and upcoming releases - and new hardware, too - that we will all get to enjoy. Shame that that's not going to be a reality this year, so now we only have video presentations to scratch that itch of ours.

I do hope everyone stays safe, though. This virus doesn't have the right to spread like it's doing right now and just needs to die a horrible death already.

@N8tiveT3ch the thing is that even that seems to be affected

@ThanosReXXX "will nearly always"

Get back to me in 20 years and we'll see about always.

I bet the people behind AOL in the 90's thought they'd be the internet forever. Same for Blockbuster. In the technological age things change fast. Look how big Keighly got his Game Awards, and its' only been around a few years. With the right bunch of people in charge even just 10 years from now people could be equating E3 with Obama administration or "the 60's" or Disco, something that came and went. It started in '94, if it ends in 2019 that's 25 years. It would make a nice history book - "The 25 Years of E3".

https://www.polygon.com/features/2019/6/7/18653968/e3-history-1995-sega-saturn-nintendo-64-playstation-launch

News travels fast on twitter, wouldn't take long to spread the word and start up a big new show, maybe w/ some $ from Google as they try to make Stadia relevant. Or maybe the people running CES in Jan would also like a game show in June? We'll see.

Honestly I feel bad for the Nintendo people..

"The End of an Era"
That's... a way to put it. I doubt this is the end of E3, as long as Todd Howard companies are willing to pay their audience members to clap for The Elder Scrolls: Blades on Switch showcase their games to a crowd of enthused gamers.

@Yorumi "I still feel there's nothing else out there like it now"

And there isn't, b/c why should anybody try, b/c we already have E3.

But this is an opening. Maybe Keighly makes a play.

See my post #30 here.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2020/02/yet_another_blow_to_e3_as_presenter_geoff_keighley_skips_show_for_first_time_in_25_years

@Yorumi Yeah, agreed on the panicky part. I blame the faster spread of media, or to be more exact: social media, and the almost real-life alienated part of our Earth's population. Most of their life IS online, so of course they're going to pour ALL of their thoughts and emotions into that as well, internal panic and similar musings included...

On a side note: I wasn't really about to put Y2K into the same basket as ACTUAL human diseases, so I never considered that this would be some of what you were talking about...

@KayFiOS If you replace "strikethrough" with "del", then that option to make lines through text will actually work on here...

@ThanosReXXX Thanks for the heads up!

Insurance companies must be crying right now. They are about to fork over a ton of monies to multiple events including the Olympics.

@NerdyBoutKirby That's Swine Flu

This is most definitely the final nail in the E3 coffin, hopefully E3 lives on in spirit through all the company conferences.

End of an era? Isn't that jumping to a conclusion?

E3 may be in a bit of a decline but the planners cancelled it over health and safety concerns. If E3 was in its prime and this outbreak occurred, I bet they still would have cancelled the event.

@ShinyUmbreon If they had a BotW-like display created and ready? Yes, definitely. Otherwise, it's just presentations and video clips. If they did some large display, maybe they could use it at a demo event or something?

@ThanosReXXX ahem Ebolavirus would love to have a word with you. And unlike the coronavirus, contracting the ebolavirus was most DEFINITELY a death sentence. As someone who lived near the epicenter of the outbreak, you bet the panic and the precaution was real. I lived through the rumors, information, precautions, and total dread.

Thing is, the world didn't freak out about the Ebolavirus like it's doing for the coronavirus. You're pretty much not going to die if you get the coronavirus, honestly speaking. Of course, that doesn't mean you should throw away your common sense or go to places when you don't need to, but there is a sense of unnecessary panic here and there. Heck, with this article's language of "end of an era," there's the subtle implication that this new crown virus is a beast that all will bow down to, rather than explaining clearly that E3 is only being cancelled due to precautionary measures.

And it's not just Nintendo Life (of course not, heck Nintendo Life isn't really guilty of anything). ABC has been going rather nuts with the coronavirus, treating it like it's the new AIDS. I don't really follow any other news outlets, but I'd imagine the coverage is similar. What does this mean? For one, people go out and hoard vital needs like toilet paper, isopropyl alcohol, facemasks, fever medication and all, leaving places like hospitals who would love those needs hanging and scrambling to get them. When someone coughs in a class, the rest of the students begin to panic, and the teacher may even cancel class (a coworker told me that happened to her recently). And then there's the misinformation and conspiracy theories. And loss of common decency for the fellow human being. All for a virus that's not even close to something like ebolavirus or even the flu.

Again, I'm not downplaying the common sense response to the coronavirus. Yes, please wash your hands. Yes, don't go out of you don't have to. Yes, stay inside if you're sick. Those are all great responses to the virus. There are indeed valid concerns regarding the virus. But I don't think people are liking the whole "doom-and-gloom" vibes that the media and influencers are trying to portray. We will get through this, no doubt about that. Fortunately for us, we're on our way to making vaccines and treatments for the virus, a personal favorite of mine being the mRNA vaccine from Moderna. Should work wonders when it's finally available for the general public. But for now? Let's keep the discussion of the virus at a purely factual level rather than from an emotional level. That's my take.

@Yorumi Yeah, I get that, I just didn't consider it because we were talking about "normal" viruses, not computer ones.

@rjejr Those examples you gave, don't apply. They're too isolated and too American. AOL, I mean, is LITERALLY America Online. The rest of the world also never had Blockbuster, whereas E3 may be an LA event, it's still a worldwide happening. And I can name about a 1000 other examples of other things or people that may be gone, but will never be forgotten, and that's mainly or all because of their reputation, something E3 also has. Both GamesCom and TGS don't have that sizeable of a reputation, and I wonder if they'll ever get it. I'd sooner see those two being totally forgotten in time, especially TGS, because it's so decidedly Asian and niche, but not E3. That event has both earned and cemented it's reputation for decades to come, because as mentioned before, an E3 event is simply the synonym for what a yearly game event/fair is (or was) supposed to be.

So, even in 20 years, I'm pretty confident that most people and media will still now and positively remember E3.

On a side note: I'd never expected you to be so against and/or indifferent to there not being an E3 event anymore. Or if you're not, then I must be completely misreading you somehow...

@KayFiOS You're welcome.

@ThanosReXXX Guess we'll see. But I'm not penciling it in on my calendar.

@Vee_Flames I wasn't about to list ALL deadly or serious diseases, so I didn't forget about Ebola, I just didn't mention it. And we're completely on the same page where using common sense AND not downplaying this virus like it's nothing are concerned, so no argument there.

@rjejr Yes we will. Roll on, E3 2021. It's going to be bigger and badder than ever. And by bad I mean the popular, slang version of bad...

@Yorumi "replacing E3 with, well E3."

But what if we replace E3 with E4?

Well this sucks.

Y'all everybody all still gonna get all the content from E3, just as trailers and presentations without an audience. It's not like whatever the big N been working on vanish into thin air.

@ThanosReXXX "On a side note: I'd never expected you to be so against and/or indifferent to there not being an E3 event anymore. Or if you're not, then I must be completely misreading you somehow..."

A couple of years ago I would have thought it was strange, no doubt. Not end of the world bad, but I would have been pissed about it. But you can only get pissed about something ending so many times before you pull the plug.

I was annoyed in the late 2000's, 4 years ago, 2 years ago. At some point you just have to let it go, you know?

@Ralizah With this one I'm still not convinced it won't be something all of us get at some point. The way it spreads and the proven inefficacy of prevention due to said human stupidity sounds like trying to catch water in a sieve. All you need is one person to break quarantine, and hundreds to thousands could now be transmitting it to tens of thousands of others for 2 weeks. Not to mention people that are incubating that don't know they need to quarantine. Could even be you right now, and you' never know it. How does one prevent that from getting to everyone in short periods of time?

The bigger stupidity was still allowing non-essential air travel to and from affected countries 3 months ago. Why would you ACTIVELY keep quick vectors open if it was something to actually worry about?!

Even with local travel, just going to the shopping areas I only go once a year or so that I was to do in a few weeks...I find myself unsure if I should. Yes, there have been isolated cases in the area.

Of course, I'm a complete germophobe in general...

@Yorumi 100+mph winds are dangerous no matter the circumstances. Yes the media hypes, but it also depends on where you are. Here, TD, TS, and cat1 is devastating, and very very unsafe to be in. Cat5 would be unimaginable devastation worse than a nuclear bomb. Maybe their landscape was fairly safe, but I can't help but think that the people having a party in a cat5 have a 50/50% chance of saying "oh the media hypes this stuff it's not so bad" vs receiving a darwin award were everyone points and says "what were these morons thinking? How could anyone be that dumb? Of course this was going to happen to them!"

I wholly agree about media hype and inflation, don't get me wrong. But SOMETIMES it is valid. Cat5 hurricanes are one such time. Just because they scathed through doesn't mean they weren't in tremendous danger and lucked out. No, I don't hide in the basement every time a thunderstorm happens and the media starts warning about panic. But I don't wear chainmail in the lightening either.

SARS (actually structurally similar to corvid19....both are coronavirii from the same area no less....) never had a high contagion rate. MERS and the others were more or less direct contact infections only (like the AIDS panic in the 80s.) This one DOES spread. It doesn't kill readily. But it does spread rapidly and easily - that's whats different. That said, is it plague, or a new type of "flu like thing" half the population will get every single year from now on forever? Too soon to say. Maybe not a "toilet paper panic" if it's the latter, but it'll hve significant economic impact.

But yeah, and as I said, election year....they'll keep the panic going until November no matter what. I'm using Italy as a better barometer of the West than what they say here.

Interesting about the decrease in Asia, that I had not heard. I presume a lot of that is because China finally got their butts in gear and are using miltiary type force to lock everyone in place and disinfect them. China's horrendous about dealing with this stuff in the beginning, but once they finally do mobilize their iron fist is an advantage for this. Only after they create a world hysteria through earlier incompetence, however.

You're right in your comment to @ThanosReXX though. The number of cases is likely astronomically higher than reported. You could have it now and be transmitting it and never will know it. Anyone with a cold COULD actually have this. They'd never know the difference. Any sneeze and sniffle COULD be corvid. You may have been exposed to it months ago already and it was never known. Really hard to say when the disease has no characteristic to identify it. Pox has the lesions. Ebola has the "unending food poisoning symptoms, only worse, and then you die in a few days" This has no earmark to identify it different than every other common illness. So who can say how many cases are out there? All they have is the ones they actively test for it. The rate of spread around a vector is really its only telltale.

I'm not gonna lie, I was very interested in this year's E3 because it was rumored that this event was where Microsoft was gonna formally show off the Xbox Series X.

But the safety of everyone is more important then video games, and if they feel this is the best way to do it, then I support the ESA and the Video Game Companies who opted to cancel the event.

The fact is, with the internet and Youtube, its a simple matter for these companies to run Nintendo-Direct like shows the week when E3 would have happened and still reach a huge audience.

@rjejr I'd say the lesson would actually be "don't get pissed over stuff for no reason"...

I never got angry about E3 becoming different or smaller, or even when it took a break for a year or two, because I always knew it'd be back in some shape or form, as I'm confident will also happen next year. People seeing this virus just being used as some kind of excuse for an event that was already all but gone are just missing the point entirely.

@NEStalgia HEY! Don't try and sneakily mention me in a comment to someone else by forgetting an X in my name...

This is pretty sad, but I don't imagine it's the end of E3, just a necessary precaution for this year. I'm sure it'll be back again next year! Maybe some day I'll live the dream and actually go to it.

@Vee_Flames No question Ebola is a genuine plague type disease - that could have wiped out most of Earth if it had evolved to go airborne fully. And in one of the more grotesque fasions. That thing is truly terrifying.

The response to this though, part of me is cynical, part of me wonders if they know something about it they aren't admitting. EG, they can simulate that in x amount of permutations it becomes more plague-like in an Ebola sort of way or something if they don't kill it fast.

That said "end of an era" for E3 isn't about corvid. It's about E3 itself and how it was on the rocks already. With 2020 cancelled, that means companies will learn they don't need E3, their bottom lines are fine with the cost savings and they find other marketing avenues, and decide not to come back next year, likely ending E3 forever.

@ThanosReXXX Here in the states, SARS, N1H1, Avian flu, West Nile, etc were reorted on 24/7 with non-stop warnings, alerts, panics, etc. The media covered it exactly the same as they're covering this. It was covered as the threat that's coming for you and will unravel society and kill everyone. Our media peddles crisis for ratings, so they need to latch onto something they can sell as crisis. The biproduct is Yorumi. People so jaded by "Wolf!" being cried annually that this one comes along and it's just another hype reel for ratings with no substance. They're used to it and know to ignore it even if this time it's real. Or at least real-er.

That being said, I'm not sure where we're going to get our gaming news this year. Not random twitter posts that's for sure. Meaningless to me. I'm not even sure if there is gaming news this year. If they can't produce enough consoles and XBox lost their launch event, there's really not a launch this year anyway, and they already put the games on a holding pattern for new hardware. 2020 might be a lost year in gaming all the way around.

I just hope we get some other spectacle in place of E3 to latch onto. We need some gaming news as a big event, and a lot of people counted on E3. PAX and Gamescon are things I read about once and move on.

@Anti-Matter It's not "incurable". The human immune system destroys it like most other illnesses like the cold or flu, except in individuals with compromised immune systems or where the symptoms overwhelm a body with weakened functions (like the flu does.) It's not like other plague-type viruses that simply kill hosts without some kind of special treatment. Most people that contract it get over it on their own, and probably never know they had it. Very different from plague illnesses where once you contract it, it's over.

@Yorumi And not everybody has "modern buildings" - the media hype may have been invalid in that one location but not for the entire swath of florida.

Believe me I'm the first to fault media and how they do things. But that one isn't wrong. It's literally as high as the rating system goes for threat level. And a massive catastrophic threat that isn't as big a threat if you're in the "right type of building that's new enough" is still a massive catastrophic threat for everyone else.

@Yorumi Then again, without the media helping “creating panic”, you would have people being more careless. I mean, if everybody thought “eh it’s just the media hyping things up”, then more hurricanes (and diseases) would be actual disasters.

Humans like feeling safe, and they will delude themselves into feeling safe if they can.

As someone who lives in an area with yearly hurricanes, I can tell you that even though our houses are safe and strong, it pays to treat every hurricane like it could be a catastrophe.

@Yorumi : Extreme reactions are the norm now. You're right about the hurricane response. The internet, social media, and tv outlets hit a turning point when President Bush had to handle Hurricane Katrina. The response was exaggerated due to all these ways people could express their issues.
Unfortunately, this type of thing is only going to worsen, especially with a whole generation raised on the internet. Bad or good, extreme response are here to stay.

@PBandSmelly We didn't have a vaccine for H1N1 in June 2009 and the E3 still took place even though the number of deaths was much higher. South Korea announced they have 7,407 active cases out of which only 54 are in serious/critical condition and they are elderly and immunocompromused patients. We can see the mortality rate is lower than initially thought. So you can live in constant fear of catching a cold while sane and rational people just go on with our lives. And take your fearmongering talking points elsewhere.

@Eel The irresponsibility of the media hyping things up regularly has created that attitude in a lot more people than Yorumi. He's not wrong on one hand...his view is accurate of the media. The problem is needing to separate when "this time" they're telling the truth.

I've talked to some of the government people that determine the wordings of warnings of weather type disasters. They're idiots. They don't get it. They live in their own bubble with their own understanding and overcompensate in every direction. They'd rather error on the side of "caution" and "if it saves just one life..." Which sounds good on paper. But in reality it means constantly subjecting people to menacing sounding warnings untl they learn that nothing ever happens during warnings and to just ignore them. After that, the effectiveness of warnings are lost FOREVER. There's no way to get that tool back.

2020.....the year gaming died

Good. I hope this means the permanent end of this advertising circlejerk.

@Yorumi Yeah, let's not tempt fate indeed...

I think we can agree, and I do, on what you said earlier: numbers are still not clear on how many deaths can be attributed to this virus, nor do we know how many infected and/or carriers are walking around worldwide. Most of which probably won't even realize that they are.

I just watched the news, and the World Health Organization has just officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic event, so yeah, no more shrugging it off now... (not saying you did, but I assume you'll get the point)

@NEStalgia Corvid? What's that?

As for American media: like with all things American, it's always a bit over-sensationalized, so I wouldn't be surprised about anything you've just mentioned there. Over here, news is a lot more sober, but it still doesn't deny the facts or the lightning speed spread of this virus, considering it started in China only a couple of months ago, and now it's here in my little old country of residence, where before I would simply think "ooh, that sounds bad, but luckily it's far, far away from my bedside"...

Oh, and actually, it IS incurable, to an extent. There is no common cold virus or flu virus that is ever 100% curable, because they mutate all the time. If they were curable, then nobody would ever get a cold or the flu again. But as you mentioned, the human immune system, provided we are in good health, will eventually fight off its current rendition, and we ultimately get better and prepare ourselves for the next wave...

"The end of an era" aka hiatus dictated by safety reasons. I've read the linked talking point, but really now - by the logic discussed, do we need ANY events of the kind, like PAX and Gamescom, in this digital presentation age? As long as others find themselves topical enough to stay around, I don't see why E3 wouldn't want to.

@ThanosReXXX covid. Gah, you know what I mean. I just find it rediculous they call it "coronavirus". That's a generic term for the class of organism based on a physical characteristic (the spiked crown on it's mass) - SARS was a coronavirus as well. I'm sure there are countless other less famous coronavirii.

But yeah, the spread and rate of infection is what makes this a pandemic, not as much the severity of symptoms, but the liklihood of transmission and spread.

Well, yeah, no virus is "curable" truly. Even Smallpox is out there still. But "incurable disease" usually implies a disease that once contracted permanantly affects you and takes over the body until it or something else secondarily kills you off and the autoimmune system can't address it (or leaves you disfigured, paralyzed, etc) and needs a synthetic cure as a medical treatment to resolve. Like Ebola. This isn't that. This is within the human immune system's ability to handle in at least healthy individuals. That separates it from "incurable" diseases at least as it's commonly referred to.

E3 was a gaming news highlight for me for years. It's impact has greatly diminished over the years though. I prefer smaller scale stuff like Nintendo Directs now.

Its a shame for the fans who were going(a few YTers and Podcasters mentioned having tickets).
I think a lot of small to medium devs will lose out as well as E3 provides a focal point which gets people excited about games and an individual Web Stream may not do much for them. It's why the Nintendo Streams are great(When they happen).

@ThanosReXXX it's been a pandemic for a while. WHO just never called it such.

@Kevember
Dont gotta be a about it

@Cyberbotv2 Dude, extreme reactions have been a thing before there were electronic devices in our world.

Its not really a big loss, E3 has been going down hill for years, will still be announced online with directs and ... state of plays XD Are they still a thing? either way, This is effectively the nail in the E3 coffin and I for one, Don't think its a bad thing at all

I don't think its gonna be the final nail in the coffin for E3, just because they cancelled due to public health concerns. Its just as silly as saying that its gonna be the end of all live concerts just because they cancelled one due to a tornado.

@NEStalgia Haha, yeah, I share your annoyance at the labeling of Coronavirus, but that's just Joe Average for 'ya. No one in the average town is ever going to call it Covid-19, and Corona is something that has apparently stuck in our collective minds, so Corona virus it is...

@Yorumi Well, I don't know what other people think that a pandemic is, but to me it's just literally what it is, which like you said is a disease or symptom that has spread all over the world.

@Entrr_username Erm... I never disputed that?

This is stupid. We didn’t do the same for ebola!

@ThanosReXXX I never said you did. I was just referring to WHO finally classifying it as such.

Well, I appreciate that they are taking people's health into account, it doesn't make it any less disappointing.

@Entrr_username Well, that was basically already my point.

On a side note: there are certain parameters that need to be touched upon or reached, before something can be classified as such. It's not as if the WHO is late to the party or something.

I'm officially pissed off at Covid-19 now. Stupid virus messing with my gaming news. That's too far.

A real shame, the event has always been one of the highlights of summer to me. Hopefully Nintendo at least puts out some sort of super direct in the summer to simulate the experience.

Rest in peace, best time of the year

@NEStalgia Heh, indeed. The ebolavirus would literally dash your insides to gallons of blood. And it would do it within the span of 2 days to 2 weeks. If you recovered, you were really lucky. Because that was a huge, monumental "if." LOL it was really funny, because I moved back to the US during the peak of the crisis and developed a fever (one of the first symptoms of hemorrhagic fever) during the first leg of the trip. You can imagine how insane my worry was when we landed and had to line up and they had the airport officials point that temperature-measuring gun thing to our heads. Just imagine if they pulled me out for "concerns." I'll admit, the sheer panic and raw human emotion and instinct would be hilarious to observe, but thankfully that never happened. Phew.

But anyway, I guess you're right with this having a significant impact on E3, but I'd wager gaming companies know that their fans and the gaming media see the weeks of early June as their Christmas come early and are pretty much expected to surpass any expectations from them. In a sense, E3 was the time to cater to the hands that feeds them, and it was a set, definite time. While I love Nintendo Directs, the fact of the matter with video conferences is that we never know when they're coming next. Maybe in a month. Maybe in more than half a year (current Direct drought, anyone)? And so we expect the gaming giants to tell us what they're working on, but we don't know when they would.

I do think the organizers of E3 do have some restructuring to do. If the gaming giants see that they survive without E3, it's indeed a no-brainer that they'll put less resources and time into future conferences. I wouldn't mind an all-digital conference with showrooms for the press only in the future, but I do think E3 needs the companies to stay at the table, and I'd also wager the companies would want E3 to stay as, if done right, is free advertisement for their upcoming games. Perilous times for E3, but I hope they pull through.

This sucks. My city has already cancelled it's spring Comic Con and now we've lost E3 livestreams. Nothing nerdy and fun for me this summer. That will make May & June so boring at work. Hopefully companies will still issue Directs and things like that to help fill the gap.

E3 was dying long before they used Corona as an excuse to stop it. Nintendo pulled back from live events in favour or premade videos, Sony pulled from it...it's just been dying a slow death for years, IMO.
Every year something is going to kill us all and Coronavirus is not as bad as what's been out there previous years and that never stopped them before.

If companies follow Nintendos suit and just release showcase videos....what are we missing out on, really? Awkward stage performances and people who look like they don't want to be there in front of those crowds? Streamers/influencers making fools of themselves?
The announcements themselves are what really mattered and the same thing can be accomplished with streaming live or premade videos. If companies see they can accomplish the same thing without flying their staff out, doing awkward on stage things, or having a set-in-stone deadline they have to have something by.....then E3 may never really be back. At least not as it once was...but it hasn't been what it was once in years. A fully digital E3 would be the logical next step for it to go.

The good news here is that ESA is working on coordinating a digital event and will put the details on the E3expo site. This is good. If it works out (big if) that means they can still centrally organize a coordinated industry marketing push in the same week potentially and still deliver fans something we were otherwise expecting. it may still give us something to look forward to if they can really pull that off. IT might also keep ESA relevant in the future for the expo dates.

Much as many say this is being used as an excuse to bail out of the already fragile E3, keep in mind E3 brings in a lot of attendees from Asia. It's not just LA itself being on lockdown, but inviting in tons of people from the worst hit areas to all convene there that is a problem. If I had tickets, I probably wouldn't have gone....I don't see how they could have actually held the show.

Here's hoping we still get "E3 Week" even if it's a watered down version!

@NEStalgia Man you certainly changed tunes

End of an era!

It’s only cancelled for this year!

@Entrr_username Not changed tunes. Cautiously optimistic given the news that ESA is organizing a "virtual E3" event for the presentation side of things through the official E3 program. It's not a done deal yet and we don't know how it will pan out. But "No E3 Week" and "we're still centrally organizing the joint news conference week as a program" are two very different stories.

2020 in general is pretty much going to be cancelled. No telling how far-reaching it’ll be, event-wise. I only hope we get through this with as few lives as possible being cancelled.

@Impaler-D if he locked down the borders how come 3 collage kids came back from Italy this month? Which all 3 had it

Now this is interesting. It all ties with what Nintendo could be planning for June. Nintendo usually holds a video presentation around the time of E3, but this could've changed their plans. Maybe they've been told that E3 would be cancelled before and they postponed their first general Direct to late this month to make it bigger... probably.

It could say more about E3 in general, but I'll talk about it in your latest Talking Point.

E3 cancel conference because of a virus health issues

Journalists: "IS THIS THE END FOR E3 FOREVER!!????????!!!!!???????"

ಠ_ಠ by this logic, I assume that Itally and China will no longer exist as countries then ........ Just sayin'

I never have been to E3 but seeing all the conferences and stage demos online was what I did that week. Nintendo has got us ready for this with their directs and treehouse demos. So hopefully even without the big show they can still put on something good. It does suck that people that worked that time and the city won’t get the boost it normally gets but that is a problem the whole planet is facing now. Hopefully this virus does stabilize and they can cure it but until then we are just going to have to get used to a few temporary normals.

I love how some of you ask how or where I found that the odds of both contracting or dying from the flu are several times greater than current estimates of coronavirus. Well, it's not that difficult. A search engine can be your friend.

So, I will state once again that - at the time of this writing, the flu has unquestionably infected and killed far more people than covid. Coronovirus might technically be more deadly, but its sample size is minuscule compared to the far more easily detected common strains of flu. And once again, relatively speaking, covid is still not a particularly deadly contagion.

And to actually defend the corporate media in all of this is rather absurd, and perhaps even a but sad. These guys in the media literally sell ads during crisis. With their influence waning, they have every reason in the world to manufacture a panic and I think that it's just very difficult to argue that corona-madness doesn't greatly help their bottom line. Some of you guys on here praising the media's efforts to sow fear remind me strongly of folks with Stockholm's syndrome.

@andywitmyer well, the flu has been around for considerably longer than covid 19

Well that's that then

@andywitmyer Dude, you do realize that the kill rate for COVID is something like 6X worse than for influenza? That COVID is spreading faster and wider than anyone expected? That even at that "miniscule" 2% kill rate, that's still a possible 140 million dead?

@Yorumi I suppose the major difference is that there is medical treatment available for the flu. I know here in Australia every winter people predominantly in the older demographic get their flu shots.

@Yorumi Do you...do you just not understand how statistics work?

First the TurboGrafx-16 Mini, and now E3! I had to cancel the pre-order for three controllers just to buy Animal Crossing New Horizons! I also bought an Ocarina of Time Link amiibo from an Amazon Seller.

The coronavirus outbreak has everyone on edge. If I'm not mistaken, a lot of events are being cancelled this year because of it. I doubt we have seen the last of E3.

@Liam_Doolan jesus christ that's some clickbait title game there. Why so dramatic?

They're cancelling it for this year due to mass panic in the entire world.

They'll be back next year.

Regardless of the "other factors", E3 has been doing well, so this is just incredibly unnecessary.

Oh come on, they cancel one year due to a serious virus outbreak and you guys jump to "Is it cancelled for good?!"

That's as bad as the media acting like this virus is the end of days and humanity is done for. I mean, I joke about that - but I'm just some random commenter on the the internet and I think I phrase it so it should be obvious sarcasm.

Massive over-reaction. As others say, E3 has fast become redundant anyway. There was a period of time, perhaps the 2000s, where it was fading due to the internet able deliber news immediately, and then got a resurgence. With major companies now really exploiting the internet further, especially live events and broadcasts like Nintendo Direct, E3 really is a waste of time, money and effort.

Well damn! An unfortunate turn of events. So no Metroid Prime 4 release date for E3

@KingBowser They can still announce one

@Entrr_username True. But wouldn't bigger announcements be made specifically for E3? Since smaller titles get announced for a Nintendo Direct?

Actually, I second this, they might go ahead and do their own presentation on their own at their company or something since E3 2020 is no more.

It will also be different if they do a Treehouse Live wherever they will host one.

@KingBowser They’re thinking about doing an online thing instead.

I really don't care about a physical E3 event ever happening again or not, but I hope all the companies still take a week out of June to do an online presentation and make their biggest announcements of the year.
It's a yearly tradition to kick off Summer, it's fine if they name it something else too.

That being said, there's a very high chance of even online presentations not happening or being very scarce for the rest of the year, most things planned for release this year may be delayed past 2020, the new consoles included.

@Impaler-D See this guy/girl (or non gender.) gets it. I agree its the W.H.O who was too cautious, naive and PC about this whole thing.

I cant like your comment twice, if i could, i would.

Just thought I point out that despite the news about there being over 120 thousand confirmed cases, over half have of them have been closed. Leaving us to about 50 to 60 thousand.

@GravyThief That’s a funny story, it’s weird the type of prejudices people can concoct in their minds. But I mean, who doesn’t like gravy? It’s excellent.

Well anyway, this is what I was referring to:

https://youtu.be/v4WAkECvhzI

https://youtu.be/Vb82-_QQQIo

@Liam_Doolan Fun fact - that's not something I or anybody else can see xD

But thanks for the adjustment. MUCH better title.

just think about how horrifying it would be to hybridize this virus with the ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus.

E3 has always been useless. Unfortunately for its organizers, the game companies have realized this fact. Why spend loads of money to go to a big live event when you can just shoot a video and broadcast it to anyone who's interested?